The present invention relates to an ancillary device useful to a cook in a food preparation procedure, such as in the baking or frying of a food object such as a piece of meat, a potato, loaf of bread or other pastry object, etc.
More particularly, the present invention provides a device which achieves a dual purpose and function of determining the interior temperature of the food article. Desirably, and in the disclosed embodiment, the device also provides a pair of tongs or the like by which the food article may be handled and/or carried.
And since both of the related functions of temperaturesensing and article-handling may be performed by the device, and in the same action, the inventive concepts and achievements may be considered as an advantageous device of combination nature; although the concepts are not limited to a combination nor to a utilization as a combination, even though the use as a handler device would automatically provide at least the sensing of the food article's interior temperature, and the use of the device as a temperaturesenser of that nature always involves at least a small amount of article-handling.
In cooking procedures there is usually, of course, an externally-seen visual indication or effect of the cooking process; and with some skill and experience a thoughtful cook can, by those externally-viewable indications, deduce the amount of thoroughness of the cooking procedure as to the article's interior, and perhaps even estimate the interior temperature. But, at best, such deductions and/or estimates are beset with inaccuracies, of various causes, and of such an extent that many times the food article will be undercooked and thus untasty, requiring a re-heating which involves a similar risk of inaccuracy, loss of time, wasted labor, etc., or the article will be overcooked, with obvious disadvantages, and perhaps ruining the article, great disadvantages in both commercial and family cooking situations.
Accordingly, the achievements of the present invention provide a convenient and handy device which provides, by the same device and in the same procedure, a convenient means of handling and/or carrying the food article, and also of measuring its interior temperature.
Further, a more particular achievement is the measurement at the midpoint of the thickness of the food article, regardless of the thickness of the article; for the device is such that there is made an automatic thrusting of the temperature-sensing probe to the midpoint of the food article by the action of applying the food-handling components to the external portion of the food article, in merely a conventional a food-handling manner.